Railroaders' Nostalgia > My Favorite Passenger Engine to have Run

SP 3200 class SDP-45.Whats not to like.Side panel control stand, with 26L Brake,hood unit and no loud HEP. Big and powerfull and great looking.Perfect to run and photogragh.I saw these units as a teenager in Bakrsfield when they were first introduced,so when they showed at Santa Barbara on  SP/Amtrak Number 12 with four SP business cars I was quite happy.I snapped the picture below days later when the two units went back up the coast at Chatsworth in 1987.Bill Webb 

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Very cool.
JB

Yes my favorite engines as well. Logged thousands of miles on these engines. The best riding of the bunch were the 3201 and the 3207. The 3205 was a rough rider.

Posted from Android

Also a fan. They rode well and performed well.

Posted from iPhone

The closest I came to one of the SP units was a former Erie Lakawanna SDP45 that was rebuilt for SP.  Had it as the sole unit on a Willamette & Pacific Eugene Hauler.

Nice shot and story!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

did you run amtrak sdp's too?

Lots of the 500 class Amtrak units.Bill Webb

Those units had that "all business" look, as did their little brothers the GP40P.
None of the ugly "styling" of the F40 and subsequent ugly ducks.
To say nothing of the "all style and no substance' Amtrak Midwest Chargers.
 

Okay...I will finally jump in! This shouldn't be hard to figure out. First engine I ever ran for "the money", SP3204, great locomotives.

Santa Fe F45's (on freight)

Posted from Android

Yours truly oils around his favorite passenger engine - Nevada Northern Ry #40, Sept 6, 1987....

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While not an engineer, I too very much enjoyed the 3200s as a trainman when they were in freight service on weekends. But let’s not forget they were purchased primarily to replace the remaining Alco PA’s and dent the roster of E’s and F’s, not a good development in my view. But all new power replaces something else. That’s “progress”.

Posted from iPhone

dan Wrote:
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> did you run amtrak sdp's too?


I did run the Amtrak 500 series. Plus the 700 series. The 700 series reminded of being in an Army half track. The windows were tiny and the visibility was very limited. My favorite Amtrak engines were the blast boxes the 200 and 300s.

Posted from Android

My favorite engine to run as a kid was a Lionel diesel switcher, but as an adult, definitely an SP 3200. They just rode so well...

EO